Porsche’s customer team Manthey EMA has won Sunday’s DTM race at the Lausitzring. With this, Thomas Preining netted his first DTM success of the season. On Saturday, the Austrian Porsche works driver had already finished on the podium with third place. Thanks to these results, the defending champion moves up the drivers’ rankings to second place. His Turkish teammate Ayhancan Güven wrapped up the weekend with 15th on Saturday and eleventh on Sunday.
Manthey EMA, the reigning DTM team champions, returned to their usual top form at the Lausitzring after a rocky start to the season at Motorsport Arena Oschersleben. The Porsche specialists from Germany’s Eifel region underlined this in the first race at the Lausitzring. In Saturday’s qualifying, Thomas Preining planted the ca. 416 kW (565 PS) Porsche 911 GT3 R on the first grid row. In the race, which was red-flagged twice due to a heavy downpour, he crossed the finish line in third place. Like Preining, the former Porsche Junior Ayhancan Güven took a short excursion off the track on slicks. However, he succeeded was battling his way up to the order to 15th place and was rewarded with a championship point.
In dry conditions on Sunday, Preining gave an indication of his pace in the final practice session, with the Porsche works driver turning the fastest lap in 1:20.858 minutes. This put him on pole position for the second race of the weekend on the short 3.478-kilometre Grand Prix circuit. The Austrian got off the line well and managed to fend off all attacks at the front but had to allow Ricardo Feller from Switzerland to overtake. After the mandatory pit stop, the reigning champion warmed the racing rubber of his 911 GT3 R to the optimal temperature faster than Feller and his teammate Kelvin van der Linde. With inspired overtaking moves, Preining reclaimed the lead and brought his first win of the season home safely. Starting from P5, Güven became embroiled in a midfield duelling pack and had to settle for eleventh place.
“Once again, Thomas Preining proved today that he can handle pressure well in qualifying and the races,” praised the Porsche 911 GT3 R Project Manager Sebastian Golz. “He headed into the races here in Lausitz with a very positive attitude. On the track, he has nerves of steel!”
Comments after the race
Nicolas Raeder (Managing Director at Manthey):“After the Oschersleben weekend, I’m extremely proud of how strong our comeback has been – it was great to see that! We didn't expect we’d have the chance to fight for victory here at the Lausitzring. For the most part, this is thanks to Thomas Preining, who pulled it all together perfectly. And the foundation is the total trust that the team has in each other.”
Thomas Preining (A, Porsche 911 GT3 R):“What a mega weekend! We’ve improved in leaps and bounds. We succeeded in getting the most out of our tests last weekend and made the right decisions from what we learned. We got the maximum out of it. We weren’t necessarily the fastest, but I pulled together the perfect qualifying lap on Sunday with a perfect Porsche. Our strategy and pit stops worked very well in both races.”
Ayhancan Güven (TR, Porsche 911 GT3 R):“My qualifying ended promisingly for me on both days – the performance was right. But I fluffed my start, and I immediately lost a position. In terms of pace, I could barely match the pace of cars from other manufacturers, especially on the straights, and that cost me additional places. Still, I earned crucial points. Now we’ll concentrate on the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring before we start prepping for the DTM weekend in Zandvoort.”
Results
Result race 3:
1. Kelvin van der Linde (RSA), Team Abt Sportsline, Audi #3, 37 laps
2. Maro Engel (D), Winward Racing, Mercedes, +2.547 seconds
3. Thomas Preining (A), Manthey EMA, Porsche 911 GT3 R #91, +11.140 seconds
15. Ayhancan Güven (TR), Manthey EMA, Porsche 911 GT3 R #90, +52,849 seconds
Result race 4:
1. Thomas Preining (A), Manthey EMA, Porsche 911 GT3 R #91, 42 laps
2. Kelvin van der Linde (RSA), Team Abt Sportsline, Audi #3, +1.441 seconds
3. Ricardo Feller (CH), Team Abt Sportsline, Audi, +3.083 seconds
11. Ayhancan Güven (TR), Manthey EMA, Porsche 911 GT3 R #90, +15.786 seconds
Drivers’ standings after four of 16 races:
1. Kelvin van der Linde (Team Abt Sportsline, Audi), 63 points
2. Thomas Preining (Manthey EMA, Porsche), 55 points
3. Ricardo Feller (Team Abt Sportsline, Audi), 50 points
16. Ayhancan Güven (Manthey EMA, Porsche), 10 points
Team standings after four of 16 races:
1. ABT Sportsline (Audi), 110 points
2. Winward Racing (Mercedes), 88 points
3. Schubert Motorsport (BMW), 72 points
5. Manthey EMA (Porsche), 63 points
Manufacturers’ standings after four of 16 races
1. Audi, 114 points
2. Mercedes-AMG, 106 points
3. Lamborghini, 101 points
5. Porsche, 75 points
Full results on: https://www.dtm.com/en/standings
